


The song of Sorrow

by Chibisfanartcave



Category: One Piece
Genre: Adventure, First posted fic, Gen, Mugiwara no Ichimi | Straw Hat Pirates, Not Beta Read, Selkie AU, we die like idiots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-01-25 18:27:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21360718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chibisfanartcave/pseuds/Chibisfanartcave
Summary: while making their way to a new island, a peacful afternoon aboard the sunny gets interrupted by the sudden appearence of a large shadow in the ocean.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 22





	1. a new island new threaths

It was a warm day aboard the sunny, much to the crews delight, having Luffy accidentally lead them into a storm put a damper in even the best of moods but having also made almost twice the progress in their journey to the next island brought the mood right back up.

Nami was checking their course keeping an eye on her log pose while regularly checking her map of The area, below on the main deck the others were enjoying the sun, Chopper was lying in the grass napping while Usopp tinkered away next to him. Robin was reading a book and sipping on some tea that Sanji had prepared for her, Luffy was keeping himself entertained by fishing while occasionally humming along to whatever song Brook was currently working on.

It was indeed a peaceful afternoon, “I think we should reach the next island by sunset” Nami announced over the deck, she got an sigh of relief from Luffy and a curious look from Robin “Do you know the name of the island?” she asked, Nami nodded “It's called Kala Kala island, supposedly it's an island that prides itself on the local seafood.” Robin smiled it sounded like a lovely place she had to check if they had any good bookstores as well. 

The peace was interrupted by Luffy's enthusiastic yelling “ I SEE A BIG ONE!” he was pointing at a large shadow not that far away from the sunny and it was rapidly approaching.

Nami ran towards the steering wheel hoping she could avoid having whatever it was from colliding with the sunny`s side, Usopp, Chopper and Brook were trying to reason with Luffy about fighting the shadow while Robin braced herself for the possible impact. The turn was sharp making the boys fall and roll on the grassy deck like tumbleweeds.

They could feel a light thud travel through the sunny as they had avoided the worst of it, the shadow now traveling further away from the ship much to Namis relife. 

As they settled from the sudden attack Robin was helping Usopp get back on his feet when the kitchen door flew open and a panicked Sanji came running out “WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!?!” he looked around the deck and the horizon looking for what had caused the sudden shift but found nothing, Robin answered “Could be a seaking.” she rubbed her chin in thought “Or perhaps an unknown sea monster.” she added.

Usopp and Chopper shivered at the mere thought of something worse than a sea king existing, Luffy was bouncing around excitedly “ Who cares. Whatever it is its big and it's probably edible.” that made Sanji scowl “Don't assume every living thing is edible!”

The rest of the way to Kala Kala went smoothly. The island was a decent enough size that hiding the sunny wasn't to difficult, everyone split up to do their respective shopping.

The market was at full swing when Sanji got there, he made his way straight to the fish vendors, after hearing Nami talk about the locals pride for their seafood, well he had gotten intrigued. He was eyeing a particularly delicious looking snapper when he noticed that the actual amount of fish being sold was quite small. “It's been awhile since i've seen any outsiders shopping here.” the shopkeeper mused, Sanji flinched slightly at the sudden comment and internally debated answering the man before they continued “Most travelers haven't even come close to the island in the last two months.” 

Sanji`s curiosity was now peeked “Why have they been avoiding the island?” he questioned. The shopkeeper looked out towards the sea “You have probably already experienced the reason why.” Sanji raises his brow waiting for the man to continue “Two months back this orca suddenly appeared and started attacking any ship that it saw.” 

The shopkeeper motioned to the fish he had on display “which means that we can't fish properly and that travelers don't want get closer in fear of being attacked again.”

Sanji nodded, it made sense why people would avoid coming closer, but it made him wonder why a north blue creature could be found in the grandline in the first place. sure they were known to migrate but never to also swim through the calm belt while on a migration route. He had to ask if Robin knew anything about it after everyone got back to the ship.

After a good bit of window shopping Nami and Robin decided to take a break at a bar, Nami was trying to fish any interesting information she could get from the bartender while Robin kept an eye on the other patrons for any suspicious activity. 

Nami leaned slightly on the counter “Common, there's gotta be something interesting.” she sing song, the bartender rolled her eyes “Look miss, there's not much i can tell you. This town isn't exactly the most exciting.” she huffed while putting away the freshly cleaned glass mugs. Nami pouted lightly at that,there just had to be at least something.

Her thoughts were interrupted by avery loud drunk man “H..HEY...Lizz..Wasen there smth about people seeing a penguin around?!” he slurred out. Nami looked at the man curiously while the bartender just crossed her arms “That's nothing but a rumour without credible sources.” the man was now waving his hands in the air “but i swear...i.i saw it miself!” Lizz shook her head in disappointment “you claim to “see” a lot of things.”

Namis lips curled slightly at the edges, so there was at least something to do here while they waited for the log pose to set. She nudged Robin lightly to signal that they were leaving, they thanked the bartender and left into the streets, after walking for a while Nami turned towards Robin “so what do you think? should we look into it?” she smiled chasing a baseless rumour was still better than doing nothing for an entire week, Robin nodded “ It sounds like fun.” 

Dinner was a mess like always, a welcome bit of chaos in the day. Once it was over Nami made sure everyone was present before beginning, “so. what did everyone find out?” she watched as her friends pondered to themselves for a bit before Usopp raise his hand “well for one, there's not much in terms of exploration” Luffy and Chopper were nodding in unison, the trio had decided to go exploring into the nearby woods for the day. 

Franky and Brook shared a look before Brook spoke up “well, i think we might have seen what that shadow from earlier actually was.” Sanji rubbed at his temples “let me guess, was it an orca?” both Franky and Brook looked at him with stunned expressions “wow, are you some kind of mind reader?” Franky lifted his sunglasses to get a better look at him, just to make sure that he was still the same cook as before.

Sanji huffed “No im not, i just happened to hear it from a local fisherman.”

“How strange.” Robin hummed “Two north blue creatures spotted around the same summer island.” she could see how everyone turned their heads towards her in almost unison at the remark “there's two?” they questioned.

Nami sighed before adding “Heard a rumour about it, we don't have any solid proof though.”

She could almost feel the glint in Luffy's eyes from where she was standing, the smell of adventure never failed to get her captains interest. Almost on queue Luffy jumped up from his seat fist in the air “Tomorrow let's go find this mystery penguin” a cacophony of cheers and light disagreements erupted from the table as they decided on the best course of action before finally calling it a night.

That night if you listened carefully you could hear a song coming from the ocean filled with heartache.


	2. Keep calm and waddle on

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the strawhats split up to search for the rumoured penguin.

The next day armed with nets and a sack filled with enthusiasm, Luffy wanders into the woods along with Robin, Sanji and Brook to look for the rumoured penguin. While Nami, Usopp,Zoro and Chopper stayed in town to find anymore clues about its possible whereabouts. 

"This is stupid, why are we looking for a dumb bird anyway?" Zoro grumbled, he had been itching to find anyone worth fighting on the Island, but from the sound of it he would even fight The damn bird if it gave him a challenge. 

Nami turned her head to look at Zoro " This is probably the most exciting thing happening on this Island. Or you could keep Franky company on the sunny." 

Zoro grumbled, he had nothing against spending time with the shipwright but having just been a little over a weeks since the last Island, he needed to stretch his legs and muscles. 

He had wanted to go with the forest group but his luck when drawing straws had never really been the best. 

Nami stopped suddenly almost making Zoro crash right into her, her gaze was locked on the small bar sign hanging from the wall. 

"Well here we are." she said hand in the air as to show of the sign. 

Usopp blinked in confusion "If you just wanted to drink you should have said so." 

"Didn't i tell you that this is where i first heard of the rumour?" Nami crossed her arms and grumbled. 

All three boys shook their heads "No u did not." they spoke in unison. Nami showed Them all inside the small bar too shush them, inside they were greeted by only one other patron and the bartender from the other day who was keeping herself busy by polishing the few metallic mugs they had. She looked up from her work and nodded at Nami "so you brought more friends with you, sit down i'll take your order in a bit."

In the forest surrounding the town a joyful humming could be heard, Brook and Luffy were walking arm in bone singing and humming to a song they had come up with while walking. Sanji while amused by the silly song still had his concerns when it came to how loud the duo were being. 

Robin had a tone of amusement as she spoke "I think you will end up allerting it to our position at this rate."

Brook spun around on his heels, bony hands now framing his face in a shocked expression "Oh no, now that wont do at all!" he looked down at Luffy who was now pouting "so no singing?" he huffed out. 

Robin shook her head, a small smile formed at her lips at the sight of both the musician and her captain now both sulking as they continued walking. 

The whole walk had been very quiet, so she wasn't to surprised that they had gotten antsy and just started singing. 

She looked further ahead to see Sanji staring into the woods his gaze was fixated on something that she couldn't quite see from where she stood. 

He didn't even look towards his crew as he spoke "Guys… i think i found something."

Luffy flung himself over immediately, catching both Brook and Robin with him on his way over to where the cook stood. Landing was easy enough, no one ending up upside down on the forest floor this time. 

Once the group was huddled around Sanji he simply lifted his arm and pointed at a small pond that could be seen behind some of the trees, his cigarette being close to falling out of his mouth as he mumbled "Over there, its hiding in the bush near the pond." 

Their eyes were locked on the small bush waiting for a sign that the creature would come out of there, at this point Luffy didn't care whether or not it was a penguin, he just wanted to catch something. 

After a good minute of waiting and trying their damndest to stay as quiet as possible, the silence was finally broken by some rustling in the bushes as a thin black beak poked out, soon followed by the whole creature. 

Sanji's cigarette gave up trying to stay in his mouth and fell to the forest floor, mouth agape in shock, he had seen some weird things while on the strawhat crew, and somehow this felt the weirdest. Because there was no good reason as to why an emperor penguin should be in the grandline. 

He simply stared at the large arctic bird, rubbing his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things, it wore a hat with a similar pattern as its fathers and a yellow backpacka, it truly stood out like a sore thumb amongst all the lush greenery. 

The penguin seemed to have noticed them as it started to run away as fast as it could, Luffy jumped into action but before he could reach the bird a pair of feminine hands sprouted from its sides and wrapped themselves around the bird, making it stumble.

It was squawking its little lungs out as Luffy's net landed around it, flippers tanggaling it even more as panik swept through it. Luffy looked over his shoulder at Robin, he didn't need to ask as she answered “ Don't worry, i got them.” Luffy noded lifting the net off of the penguin, or rather he tried, it had gotten so tangled into the net that both legs and a flipper were completely stuck. 

Brook approached the squawking mess “I'll take care of this.” he hummed softly his bony fingers perfect for clearing the tangles as Luffy watched with interest from beside him. He paused when the birds squawks started sounding more like sobs.

“...Please dont hurt me.”


	3. a little bit of fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The days events from Penguins perspective up until he got cought.

He wasn't exactly the best at blending into a crowd, even though he tried, his hat always stood out even when he didn't want it to. For once Penguin had tried extra hard to blend in with the citizens of kala kala, but he still couldn't bring himself to go hatless. He wandered around the marketplace while eyeing his grocery list, he had been tasked with all the shopping ever since they came to this island, not out of choice since they had been forced to park quite a distance away from the island close to some rock formations, Bepo had wanted to go but he would have stuck out like a sore thumb. 

Having to deal with what usually followed was a headache Penguin did not want to deal with at the moment, sure they were now in the grandline and people might not even look twice when a walking talking polar bear strolled through town, but still it was a risk he didn't want to take, since if they needed to retreat they had no way of doing so since Shachi wasn't cooperating with them. 

Even during the day in the middle of the busy market if he really tried to listen he could hear him screaming in the ocean. Penguin didn't blame him for acting the way he has, all of them were on edge. They had lost the only trail they had for finding their friend, and they were lost in unfamiliar territory to boot. 

Penguin fiddled with the straps of his backpack, he would just try to reason with him again. Though he knew the risk of doing so, he could feel his shoulder blade start to ache at the memory, they had been young and he knew that Shachi had not meant to hurt him. Ever since the he would just storm of somewhere to cool down when he got to upset, however it had already been two months since Shachi stormed of and they were getting antsy to get going again. Sure they had no idea as to where they should be heading but staying still wasn't helping either.

Penguin was pulled back into reality by when his nose caught the scent of grilled squid, he would just have to think about that later, for now lunch was calling his name.

Munching on a small bit of a fried snapper as he crossed out the last item on his shopping list, things had gone relatively smoothly with only a couple of distractions, most of which consisted of food, but he couldn't shake the strange feeling of something being off today, he blamed his instincts of overreacting since he had no proof that anything was out of the ordinary. He exited the town heading straight for the woods, the only place on this island to his knowledge where he could actually hide away from people. 

This step could have been prevented if their dinghy was in functioning order, but as luck would have it, they had been unable to repair it for a while. Which meant he had only one option for how to get back to their hiding spot, swim. 

He had nothing against swimming, he loved it, but trying to keep a backpack as dry as possible while trying to resist the urge to just dive as deep as he could was not something he enjoyed.

Penguin walked for quite a bit, making sure he was in a spot in the forest where he wouldn't be easily spotted, he took a deep breath and focused, his transformation was slow, much slower then what he liked it to be. 

The world always felt so much bigger when he was in this form, technically he only shrunk about 40 centimeters but it always felt like more, he slinked out of his human clothes now too big for his emperor body, once freed from the cocoon of cotton he started opening the backpack with his beak to retrieve his smaller hat, was it necessary to have a smaller version of the hat he used to hide the few parts that he couldn't turn fully human? Most likely. But he liked the hat to much to care about such things. 

Proceeding to fold and pack his human clothes, he stopped in the middle of placing his shorts in the backpack when he heard distant singing, what's worse is that it kept getting louder. 

Penguin quickly finished packing and picked up his backpack, he crawled into the nearby bushes hoping to hide. He tried to listen carefully to the direction that the singing was coming from, but just as he thought he had it the singing stopped now he could only estimate where it was coming from, he moved slowly from bush to bush making his way slowly towards the forest edge, he could smell the salty air from the sea he was getting close, just a little more and he was off the island.

Penguin peeked out of the bush just a little, checking if he could see anyone, once he was sure there isn't anyone around he waddled out of the greenery, he could hear light gasps coming from far away, he turned to look to his side, and there just barely out of sight were four people peeking at him from behind the trees. He could feel his blood run cold in his veins, panik.


	4. Silence of the lunch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Comunication goes nowhere until someone brings up lunch.

"I swear! I heard it talk!" Luffy tried to explain, hands gesturing wildly at Nami, she sighed hand coming to massage her eyes, he had been saying the same thing to all of the crew ever since they came back to the sunny. 

"Luffy, it squawking is not the same as talking." Nami tried to reason with him but to no luck, he seemed completely convinced that he had heard the penguin speak though no one else from the forest team had reported hearing it. 

Her eyes skimmed over the deck to the accused bird in question, it was being held in place by a small bit of rope around its feet and a wall made of her friends, she could hear Usopp and Robin gushing over its little hat and backpack, "so cute! Hey, do you think it's someone's Pet?" he pondered, one of his brown fingers playing with the red pom pom on its hat, Robins hand pressed against her cheek "Perhaps, but it could possibly be an assassin." that made the sniper jump a bit. 

Chopper was trying to communicate with it, but it was keeping its beak shut, not a single squawk or chirp. His brows furrowed in thought as he inspected the large bird for any signs of injury that could be causing this od silence, but found nothing. 

"Maybe it's just super grumpy" Franky mutered. 

Chopper shrugged “That's one explanation.” he poked on one of the birds wings but got no reaction, not even a glare “It's a bit worrisome though.” Franky nodded at Choppers remark in agreement. It wasn't normal for a wild animal to just not make any sound at all in this kind of situation. Chopper turned to robin with a concerned frown on his face, she could guess what he was gonna ask “It was making quite the ruckus until we left the forest.” she stated.

Luffy gave a light laugh “Its people shy~” he hummed in an amused tone while he swayed back and forth. He spotted Sanji from the corner of his eye a grin spreading wide on his face as he got an idea. 

“Hey Sanji! Can we eat it?!” 

Suddenly the penguin jumped up on its feet and started shouting “LIKE HELL YOU ARE EATING ME!”

Stunned silence fell upon the crew on the thousand sunny as they stared at the captive bird in shock, Nami was the first to break the silence with a small gasp “Luffy was right. It can talk.” she looked at her captain who seemed really pleased with himself. 

The emperor looked just as shocked as the others, its beak hung open, still and unmoving, realization of its actions hitting it a couple of seconds to late. He could see his life flashing before his eyes, this was it, this is where his life ends, a small tear formed at the corner of his eye.

\---

Back near some rock formations a small house like structure swayed gently by the ocean waves as it stayed in its little hiding spot, anchored to the rocks. Its reinforced walls creaked lightly at the motion, as if they were sighing with relief. A window on the top floor was open, letting fresh air into the normally stuffy construction.

Inside was a room that was decorated in maps and charts, scattered over a small wooden desk and along the walls, some having fallen to the floor but never been accidentally trampled. A single bed was positioned near the door against the southern wall. 

The door creaked as the rooms resident came back a mug of warm tea in his left paw and the newspaper tucked under his right arm. 

Bepo made his way carefully through his room, masterfully avoiding both spilling his tea and crumpeling any maps that were in his way. He cleared a small spot on his desk for his mug and paper and sat down, stretching his arms lightly before finally relaxing into the chair. 

This was routine, everything was fine, or that's what he had been saying to himself for a while, usually Penguin would have been back by now, sure it was not uncommon for him 

to have gotten distracted by something and running a little late. But Bepo still worried, even though he knew that Penguin could handle himself.

He never liked being unable to help in these kinds of situations, having to stay as hidden as possible was quite difficult for him, unlike his friends he couldn't transform or even pass as a very hairy human. So most of the time when they landed on a populated island he would either stay on their ship or find a highly secluded area where they could camp.

But for now all he could do was stay up to date with the news in hopes of maybe finding a new lead, and wait for Penguin to come back as well as for Shachi to finally calm down. 

Though the later felt imposible at the moment. 

He shook his head to rid himself of such negative thoughts, trying to focus on reading instead. 

A small whisper rang into the silence of the room.

“Please, come back soon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in the words of my friend "Just imagine, an emporor penguin slapping luffy, so hard that his head stretches over the horizon." she made me type that.


	5. The only way out is to trust.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Penguin works up the curage to ask for help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a struggle to write, but i did it, and here it is.

"Does it hurt?" Chopper asked while his hooves picked at Penguins ankles, small scuffs could be seen from where the rope had been tied. 

Penguin shook his head "Nah. It's fine, i've had worse." if he was being honest it still stung quite badly, but admitting that to a bunch of strangers that had him tied up just 20 minutes ago, did not sound like the best idéa to him. 

Sure they became quite friendly towards him after they learnt that he could speak, but that did very little to quell his doubts, if anything it made him more wary over their intent. He carefully eyed the rest of the crew, they seemed like an od bunch for being pirates, though he wasn't exactly normal either. 

They had moved from the deck to the kitchen, he had been sat down on the couch while they had seated themselves around the table, there was still room around it for one more person, but he would much rather sit just a little bit away from the collection of pirates, just in case he needed to escape. 

The woman with long black hair had been eyeing him for awhile from across the table , it was starting to make him uncomfortable, the look in her eye was of someone who held many secrets and knew many more. He could deal with being gawked at and even getting rocks thrown at him by kids, but that look of knowledge? It rarely meant anything good. 

He could hear the small reindeer speaking with what he had gathered was the navigator, Penguin tried to listen in on the conversation but the room was filled with so much chatter that their voices drowned in the ocean of noise. 

"So what kind of devil fruit do you have?" Luffy asked, the question was light hearted, more for small talk then anything else. 

Penguin didn't want to answer, he never liked lying even to people he barely knew, but staying quiet could lead into trouble as well. 

He took a deep breath, he would just have to hope for the best. 

"I dont have one." Penguin muttered, his voice feeling smaller then usual. 

"Can all penguins talk then?" 

He shook his head "No… They can't."

Luffy furrowed his brows in thought "So you are some kind of mystery penguin?" 

"Something like that." 

Well it wasn't a complete lie, might as well go along with that for the time being. The raven haired boy seemed fine with that answer, he laughed lightly as he motioned towards the woman with black hair "See Robin! Told ya it was a mystery bird!" 

She gave a light laugh "It sure is." and there was that look again, if she knew then why didn't she say anything? None of the others seemed to know. 

The blonde smoker was twirling a cigar in between his fingers seemingly deep in thought "that's strange. I can't recall anything about a penguin species that could talk." he motioned towards Robin with a nod "Robin-chwan~ Do you know anything about this?" 

She nodded "I have a hunch." 

Penguin could feel cold sweat forming under his down feathers. 

"However. I think it's up to our guest to tell us, if he wants." 

Luffy didn't even protest against her explanation, he just said a "ok." and continued launging on his chair . Not even attempting to pry more into it. 

He had never encountered such an nonchalant pirate crew, no hints of hostility whatsoever, so maybe, they were safe? 

A clap from the woman in orange brought Penguin back into reality.

“Yeah, sorry about kinda kidnaping you earlier." She said, a cheeky smile barely hidden by her hands " Any way we could make it up to you?"

They could be a huge benefit, but should he take the risk? Penguin focused, the sooner they could get going again the better. 

"There is, something." 

He stilled his shaking flipper before continuing " I need help finding someone."

Luffy tilted his head, looking almost bored. "That's all?" 

Penguin nodded "Just finding a lead i can follow is enough." 

The pirate crew mumbled a bit with each other, debating how long it would take to find Penguin`s friend, most of them estimated it to only maybe take a couple of hours. He should probably had clarified that his friend was nowhere around the island at all. They're chatter continued he should probably interrupt them, shouldn't he? But trying to find a good part to chime in when there are 9 people talking over each other wasn't the easiest. 

The archeologist walked over to where Penguin had been sitting on the couch, crouching down to get to eye level with him, though he doubted she could actually see his eyes due to his little hat.

“Mr.penguin, i believe you never told us anything about your friend, just knowing what they look like would help a lot.” she said with a smile.

“...well… he's like me, kinda…” 

“so were looking for another penguin? Any other distinguishing features?”

“... He's not.. a penguin, he's a seal.”

Robins eyebrows raised in surprise “ But how is he “like you” then? A seal is a completely different animal.”

The feathers on his back were standing up, he had said too much, he couldn't take those words back now. All he could really do was look away from those knowing eyes, silently hoping she'd just drop the subject, but the woman wasn't letting up. He would have to show them the truth at some point, just to make sure they were trustworthy, perhaps this is as good a time as any and also clear up theyre misunderstanding of their search range. 

"I fear, you have gotten a few details wrong." He jumped off the couch and straightened his back, now standing at his full emperor height. 

"I know my friends not on the island, if he was, we would have found him already…"

The navigator spoke up "so, we are basically just gonna be looking for leads for you to follow Then?" 

Penguin nodded “there's something else to... He's not exactly a normal seal, He...” The words almost felt painful to say “ He's a selkie.”


	6. show me the real you.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Penguin shares his secret with the strawhats. To some degree of success.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well, this took longer then i would like to admit to write, but eh, thats what happens when your just making something for the fun of it. 
> 
> Hopefully its aleast readable. Enjoy~

“Is it some species of seal?” Usopp questioned, the word felt familiar but in that long forgotten way, like he once knew what it had meant.

He looked around the rest of the crew curious if anyone knew what a selkie was, but all he got were confused looks, that is except for Robin and Sanji.

Robin was simply smiling triumphantly, the way she did whenever one of her hypothesis were correct. Sanji on the other hand seemed to be having a hundred thoughts in a second, his expression turning more and more dumbfounded.

“That doesn't make any sense!” He protested “ Didn't they go extinct?” Sanji looked at Robin, hoping that she had all the answers.

She simply glanced at penguin and back towards him “ Apparently their not.” she stated matter of factly. 

Penguin simply sat there watching each pirates reaction, looking for any signs of hostility or the like, but there was only a growing air of confusion, he knew the myth and legends surrounding Selkies weren't that well known in the other blues, and yet he was surprised that only two crew members even knew what the name meant. 

“Wait… Most of you don't know what a Selkie is?” He squawkd.

Most of them nodded a silent no, except the little reindeer that held his hoof in the air as he jumped in place, like a student eager to answer, his voice, high pitched and excited.

“I know, I know! They are seals that can take the shape of humans, right?” 

Chopper got a light pat on the head from Sanji “Hey look at you, you got it right.”  
the reindeer gave a pleased laugh at the praise. 

Sanji cleared his throat as he started to explain “According to some folktales in the north, Selkies were very common in the past, but since no one has actually encountered any in the past, what? 500 years? Maybe more. People are starting to think that's all they were, fairy tales.”

Sanji paused and looked at the now seemingly sad Penguin, his body almost curled completely into a ball where he sat on the dining room bench “Though, from what you have said i take it they still exist?”

Penguin raised his head, enough so that Sanji could see his small beady eyes that hid under the brim of his hat, they looked tired with hints of sadness.

“yeah, back then there were only seal Selkies.” Penguin jumped down from the bench, but did not move anywhere. “ But after that- that massacre, the only way to keep the species alive, was to expand into other sea life…” 

“WAIT HOLD ON!” Nami interupted “ are you saying that you are...??”

as those words left her lips, penguin felt almost relieved, he could finally start to relax and show his true self after hours upon hours of maintaining the two forms that didn't come naturally to him. His voice felt so light “yeas…”

He could feel his body growing, slowly, he could feel the feathers on his body morphing into an almost cloth like material, flippers into hands, Beak into a separate nose and mouth, some feathers turned into hair others did not. The feeling was comforting as he could feel like himself again, transforming always took a lot of concentration as such he couldn't hear what the pirates around him were saying, but this once, he didn't care.

“ I'm a hybrid, but yeas. I am a Selkie.”

Everyone stared at the person that now stood before them, while the crew had at large seen a lot weirder stuff after entering the grand line, this was the first time that they had seen anything like this. 

One could almost mistake Penguin for a human, if it weren't for his skin being jet black with white and yellow markings, the mixture of both feathers and hair on his head, as well as his feet staying as bird feet.

The trio of Usopp, Luffy and Chopper were the first to break the silence with a unison exclamation of “THAT WAS SO COOL!!!” followed quickly with rapid fire “how did you do that?” and “Do it again! Do it again!” , the sudden loud noise made Penguin slightly jump, but he quickly started almost melting from the sudden praise. 

Maybe he could pretend, for just a little while, that everything was gonna be ok.

\-----

Bepo kept glancing over at his small desktop clock, it had already been over 5 hours since he last heard from Penguin, with each passing minute he felt more and more uneasy. He had long since finished reading the days paper, it now resting in the pile that got used for lighting fires, maybe he should try calling, just to make sure everything was alright.

As he got up to get to his den den mushi, Bepo felt the floor suddenly tilt harshly. He stretched out his paws to try and steady himself, one arm flailing in the air trying to find anything to grab onto, his paw finally one of the map shelves, now all he had to do was wait out whatever sudden wave had hit them.

But it didn't stop, Bepo tried to get to the door but with the floor shifting constantly underneath, he soon got knocked over. Deciding it wasn't worth posible falling over again Bepo crawled out of his room and made his way to the stairs that lead down to the main area of their ship.

He could see Ikkaku struggling to get a hold of Uni, who was rolling around the floor, clearly dizzy, all while Ikkaku trailed lightly behind making small grabbing motions with her protective mittens and trying not to get stabbed by Unis spikes.

“Hey! Does anyone know whats happening?” Bepo yelled.

Ikkaku responded without taking her eyes off Uni “ Dunno, last i heard they suspect Shachis doing this.” She moved in, getting a firm grasp on Uni, who only made noises of relief as his dizzy nightmare had finally ended. “Why he would be doing this is beyond me!” 

Bepo clenched his paws slightly at her remarks, something was definitely wrong and he needed to contact Penguin NOW. He gathered himself as best he could and bolted down the stairs, careful as to not bump into Ikkaku and Uni on his way, apologizing lightly as he ran past the duo, straight into their common are and where the den den was sleeping in the bookshelf cabinet.

After carefully punching in Penguins number the familiar ringing noise the snail made while trying to connect started, that small noise was all Bepo could focus on as he mumbled to himself, voice anxious and soft “Please, please, pick up.”

**Author's Note:**

> this is the first fic i have ever posted and i hope to work on it every now and then, rating might change depeding on future chapters though.


End file.
